Hipolit keys off of what Baugh Auto Body marketing head Ashley Kruger indicated was a recycled suspension part requested by an insurer to fix what she implies is a 2014 or 2015 vehicle.

“That is not the same kind and quality,” Kruger says in WTVR video, comparing the silver original late-model part and a black replacement she implies has been spray-painted. The used part is also connected to what appears to be a rusty wheel hub.

Kruger said insurers request parts of this quality several times during a week, according to WTVR.

The insurer or recycler was not named in the story, and in fairness, it’s possible the insurer never actually saw the part’s condition — merely its availability and price. (Non-OEM on a vehicle on a vehicle just a couple of years old is arguably pretty weak, though.)

Asked about Virginia guidelines demanding only “like kind and quality,” Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia President and CEO Bob Bradshaw Jr. agreed with Hipolit that WTVR’s part would have broken the law “beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

However, the State Corporation Commission told WTVR that Virginia Bureau of Insurance didn’t “see any market conduct issues” involving aftermarket and used parts given what it called a “handful” of complaints.

The state also cites the auto body industry’s acceptance of the parts as a reason for inaction, according to a statement it provided to WTVR.

“According to the [Virginia] Bureau [of Insurance], the use of aftermarket parts is widely accepted and utilized in the auto body shop industry, not to mention that these parts typically come with lifetime guarantees,” WTVR quotes the SCC.

The state’s position and the IIAV comments ought to be a wake-up call for shops in Virginia and elsewhere who’ve turned a blind eye to or grudgingly accepted quality issues alleged about non-OEM parts. If you don’t say anything, it’s not going to get any better.

Meanwhile, the customers — and possibly TV anchors — who fail to read their policy or notifications required under Virginia law remain clueless to all of this.

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Featured image: A WTVR segment, seen in this screenshot, examines what Baugh Auto Body marketing head Ashley Kruger indicated was a recycled suspension part, left, requested by an insurer to fix a late-model vehicle. (Screenshot from WTVR video)